Hinkamper wins Battle for the Baton competition, will direct Quincy Symphony Orchestra

QUINCY — Encore!, the volunteer organization of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra Association, announced Monica Hinkamper, manager/director of tennis at Quincy Racquet and PICkLeBaLL Club in Quincy, as the winner of the Battle for the Baton competition which began on Oct. 2.

Five local celebrities competed for the honor of conducting “Sleigh Ride” on the Symphony’s “Christmas Spectacular” concert at 3 p.m. Saturday at Morrison Theater in Quincy Junior High School.

The winner was announced this week at a reveal party at Tiramisu. Hinkamper raised the most money for Encore’s youth programs. The other four candidates were Nora Baldner, Adam Duesterhaus, Josh Jones and Tim Schrage.

They raised more than $17,000 during the nearly two-month campaign. They each solicited donations for Encore!, which uses the proceeds to help fund a number of the symphony’s musical projects for area students, including summer music camp scholarships, the Quincy Area Youth Orchestra, Chorus and Kinderchor, providing a monetary award and other gifts for winners of the annual Young Artist competition and more. Each $10 donation gave a vote to a candidate.

The Battle of the Baton competition was introduced in 2014 and is generally held every two years. Previous winners were Will Spear in 2014, Charlie Martin in 2016 and Saadia Aschemann in 2018. No competition was held in 2020 due to COVID restrictions.